Unlimitedia Sick Product of a Sick System

CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Luecarou What begins as a feel-good-human-interest story turns into a mystery, then a tragedy, and ultimately an outrage.

Juana what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

bobbobwhite Cute little fun movie, but unrealistic about prison life. Guess they had to sweeten it up and not have it as gritty as it really is so regular folks could watch it without getting too upset to see it through. Nice to see anything, however, that shows greater human potential, even in an such an unlikely place as a prison.In a nutshell, prisoners turned gardeners are allowed to enter a snooty English(oxymoron?)garden show and guess what? They win, no surprise there(it's Rocky, remember?).The Rocky concept we see in so many movies we love to hate was here in force but was overcome somewhat by a great cast, especially Clive Owen as the main gardener and main squeeze and Helen Mirren, who was terrific as the English gardening maven who gave it all a chance to be greatness. She was terrific.And, as usual in all Rocky-type films, the little guys won out in the end, but also won out in another way...they became real human beings again and knew they had done something very special(even before they met the queen!). One of them even got the pretty girl.

noralee I would probably go to see Clive Owens and Helen Mirren read the phone book, and I practically did in "Greenfingers," but it's still fun for fans of Brit coms and such. While Clive's "Colin" isn't one of the hardened convicts of HBO's "Oz," he is emotionally cut-off and his blooming with his flowers is sweet, facilitated by mentor David Kelley (from "Waking Ned Devine"). The love story doesn't quite ignite.The other reformed-through-horticulture prison-mates are the usual Brit class and race rainbow, so are hard to understand sometimes.It will make a nice episode of PBS's "Masterpiece Theatre." (originally written 8/4/2001)

jarlib1 I am a librarian, and one of my jobs is to shelve and organize our videos. I had seen this movie go out occasionally, and wondered what it was like. I was pleasantly surprised, and LOVED IT!!! All of the characters are great, especially the big, hulking yet gentle prisoner who comes to like gardening. David Kelly as Fergus Wilks was a funny, sweet and upbeat man who surprised me as to why he was in prison. I cheered on the romance between Clive Owen & "Primrose". Helen Mirren was a fantastic Martha Stewart of gardening, and a loving yet clingy mom. I loved it, and have recommended it to many people as a must see! Julie A. Roberts (:-)

rps-2 Admittedly it takes an innovative talent to work a nude humping scene into a movie about gardening... They seem to be a requirement in every movie these days whether about gardening, guns or geriatrics. But what the heck. It's a nice, happy, funny movie (which is probably why some of the professional critics panned it.) I originally watched it because of Helen Mirren. She is a brilliant actress and I am a fan. But I ended up with a tremendously entertaining movie regardless. The versatile Mirren indeed is great but so is the rest of the cast.It's well shot, well written, well filmed and well produced! A pleasant, British feel-good movie without any Disneyesque American schmaltz.